Three Meetings, Three Years
by PaigeyPenguin
Summary: Three times Josh and Maya saw each other between the time they met and the Christmas we saw. Joshaya.


**A/N: SO I STARTED THIS BEFORE BAY WINDOW WAS OUT, SO LIKE, IT KINDA IGNORES THAT CANNON. OOPS.**

The first time Maya and Josh meet is when Cory planned a trip back home.

Maya was only 5, and she was hurting. Only a month ago, her own dad left, but her mom said that it wasn't his fault. That made Maya believe it was her or her mother's fault, which only made the entire thing worse.

Maya's best friend Riley had found out about it, and told her parents what had happened. Cory and Topanga felt for the girl, being reminded of their own friend from back in the day. They decided to bring Maya on their family vacation back home, wanting to give her the family she deserved.

Sadly, Maya spent the entire time in Morgan's old room, not wanting to go out and see the happy family. It made her feel weird and left out. Why couldn't Maya be happy like they were?

Of course, young Joshua Gabriel Matthews took an interest in her. Why wouldn't this little girl come out and play? He just wanted someone else around, so he could play board games with Riley.

Josh only saw Maya at dinner, and only heard her when she talked quietly to Riley. When he was retrieving a glass of water from the kitchen, he heard Cory and his parents talking about the girl in hushed voices.

Mom wanted Cory to force Maya out of her shell, to try and make her as happy as he could early on. Cory on the other hand, wanted to let her be. He insisted that Maya needed to learn to be independent, if she was going to have flakey parents. 'Always have a home with us,' is one of the phrases the young boy heard, but he didn't understand. How would she know that if they let her cope on her own?

The next day, Josh decided to go talk to the girl. It made him sad that she had to go through so much, especially when she was so young. Josh was only 8, but he had a heart of gold.

"Why haven't you come out to play with Riley and I?" Josh asked when he peeked into the room, startling the young girl who was lying on her stomach while drawing. Maya quickly collected her drawings and shoved them under the bed, hoping the older boy wouldn't notice her actions.

"I don't know," Maya whispered and shrugged, playing with her hands nervously. The little girl didn't want Josh to find out about her dad and think she was weird.

"You should come play," Josh shrugged, and sat across from her. "Unless you want to keep drawing. Then I can just talk to you while you do that."

Maya blushed bright red, a little upset that someone found her drawing. No one knew about her secret talent, not even Riley. The blonde wouldn't be able to take criticism about her drawings, they were too special to her. If someone insulted her drawings then they might as well have insulted her. "I wasn't drawing!" She shook her head furiously.

"I saw you!" Josh accused with a small pout. "They're under the bed!" He pointed to the paper that was slightly poking out.

Maya sighed and slumped back against the bed, knowing a fight was pointless. Once upon a time she was full of spunk, and would have argued until Josh believed he didn't see the drawings. Now, everything hurt too much, the world felt to numb, and she lost her spirit.

"Can I see them?" Josh asked curiously, reaching out the grab one. Maya's eyes widened and she shook her head no, slapping his hand away from the drawings. "Aw, why not?" The young boy pouted slightly.

"They're secret, and special. Not even Riley is allowed!" Josh frowned at that, knowing that it would take a lot of convincing.

"Please, I won't tell anyone!" Josh gave her puppy dog eyes

"Just one," Maya whispered and handed him one of a happy family, with a mommy, a daddy, and a happy little girl. Josh noticed that the little girl looked like her, but didn't say anything.

"This is really good," He smiled big, showing off a few missing teeth. Maya giggled at the holes and shook her head.

"You look silly with those gaps! I've already grown all my teeth in!" Maya stuck her tongue out.

Josh laughed lightly and shook his head, "No silly, those are your baby teeth. They'll fall out soon and you'll grow stronger, newer ones. Then the tooth fairy will leave money for your old teeth," he giggled. "I've already got 5 whole dollars!"

Maya widened her eyes, "Really? That's cool, I wanna lose my teeth!" She starts to try to pull on one of her teeth.

Josh shook his head and moved her hand out of her mouth, "It only counts if it happens naturally!"

"Oh," Maya nodded, "Okay. I hope I lose teeth soon."

Josh and Maya spent a couple hours talking and drawing after that, until they got called to dinner. After that, Maya seemed a lot happier for the whole visit.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The next time Joshua Gabriel Matthews and Maya Penelope Hart met, Maya was 7, and Josh was 10.

It was another summer vacation to the Matthews, and the first thing Maya did when she saw Josh was punch his shoulder and walk off, dragging Riley with her. Josh was left in awe, as all the adults held back laughter at the exchange. All week, Josh had been talking about how excited he was to see Maya, so it was very surprising to him when she wasn't just as happy to see him.

After he got out of his shock and managed to find her, he finally realized what he did wrong, which really wasn't his fault. Although he did feel awful.

"You said the tooth fairy would come! But the tooth fairy never came! You're a liar!" Maya frowned and furrowed her eyebrows angrily.

"Really? I wonder why," Josh said thoughtfully, and gave Maya a hug. "I'm sorry, I really thought she would, but I'm glad to see you anyways."

Maya felt her face heat up, and hugged him back, "I'm sorry for punching you, Joshy."

"I would've punched me too," Josh laughed and ruffled her hair with a goofy grin. They had talked on the phone sometimes since her last visit, and he was excited to see her.

Later, when he asked his mother innocently why the tooth fairy never came for Maya, he just got a sad look in return, and he was told to be thankful for what he had, and that the tooth fairy was probably late.

Josh passed this on to Maya, who nodded thoughtfully and hummed, the gears turning in her head. Josh just wanted to make her smile, she was so pretty when she smiled.

Joshua got to see her smile a lot more the next morning, when Maya woke up with an apology note from the tooth fairy, and 5 toonies under her pillow.

"JOSHY LOOK! THE TOOTH FAIRY CAME!" The little fireball almost screamed when she saw him, and ran into his arms, cuddling herself into him while he smiled widely, happy for the little fireball.

"Really?" he gasped and looked at the note and the money. The handwriting looked suspiciously like his mother's, but he didn't comment so he wouldn't ruin the magic or anything.

"It must've been cause of you Joshy! Are you magic? I think you're magic!" She giggled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before running back to Riley.

In awe, Josh brought a hand up to his cheek. In that moment, Joshua Gabriel Matthews realized that he was truly and hopelessly gone.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

It took another whole four years for Josh and Maya to meet up again.

By that point, Riley just wanted to be a princess, badly, and Maya had grown to resent the world and hated almost everyone and everything.

Josh though, oh Josh had started something big. Josh was 14 now, and he had started puberty, which included seeing girls in an entirely new way. So when Josh saw the spunky blonde girl he had grown to adore sitting in his brother's apartment.

Well, to be frank, he got a boner.

It was completely random! As he would say to anyone if they asked him about it (thankfully no one noticed).

As soon as he realized, he baisically ran to the bathroom and stared at it until it went away. He realized how fucked up it was. She was 11. Three whole years younger than him!

That was when Josh decided that the age gap was far to large to pursue anything, and began to distance himself from her, even if it killed him inside.

So Josh walked back out, gave Auggie a hug, then Riley, then awkwardly patted Maya's head and walked into the kitchen.

"What was that Uncle Boing?" Maya asked, following him into the kitchen, where he grabbed a water.

"Uncle Boing?" Josh raised an eyebrow at her, and sipped at his water.

"You know, cause you're, boing," she shrugged, not even blushing the slightest bit, unlike him.

Josh sputtered and nearly spat water everywhere. "Boing?! What do you mean boing?! NOTHING WENT BOING!"

"What do you mean?" Maya asked curiously, "I mean you're cute, and it's like, you know. Boing!" She giggled.

Josh nearly sighed in relief, "Oh, um. Okay. You shouldn't think I'm Boing, though. I'm three years older than you."

"Oh wow, three years, that's so much," she rolled her eyes and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Talk to me when you get over yourself."

Josh was taken aback at her attitude, until she turned around and ran into his arms, " I missed you," she mumbled then moved away.

Blushing, the boy shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. Maya made an annoyed sound and turned back around, walking out.

"You're done for," Cory Matthew's voice came from the corner and Josh jumped 3ft in the air, immediately protesting.

Cory laughed and shook his head. "You're right, 3 years is too much, for now. Just remember that it won't always be," his brother walked out mysteriously, all self righteously.

Josh spent the rest of the visit trying to act normal, and not acting as close to Maya as he usually did. He couldn't afford to do that right now. But one day, right?

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Shit.

Joshua was utterly screwed, he still had like another 4 years to go.

But wow, she grew up gorgeous.

So, he told her.

 **A/N: So this is just a cute (very short) little one-shot for Joshaya that I wrote.**

 **It's not even 2000 words, but I think that's okay.**

 **This was written out of pure boredom, but it was fun.**

 **-Paigey**


End file.
